So what's different about cooking here?
Shopping! We have our fair share of supermarkets, all within 25minutes of here and then there are the local markets. My favourite is at Lavelanet, which is held every Friday morning. I think I have now sussed out the best providers of local paté and goats cheese, an amazing olive stall, fresh vegetables from Aude and local bread. There are always local farmers selling whatever fruit is in season. We buy what is in season and grown in France or Spain, as even the supermarkets import very little. Other small local markets have sprung up and we buy old varieties of tomatoes, onions, squash, local honey, cheese made from a mixture of goats and sheeps milk - the list goes on. More recently one of the farms in the village is now selling his locally produced yoghurt, brebis chees and meat.
Ingredients! You would think flour was flour but not here! They don't have the same Self Raising flour and it is much harder. There is no baking powder on the shelves although there is something which translates as a a "chemical raising agent" but I tend to bring a pot of baking powder back from the UK. The results for pastry and scones are just not the same here. I now use Rye flour and also Chestnut flour, good substitutes for ordinary flour and they give a nice nutty flavour to crumbles and pie bases. Sugar is comparable but you need to look on the ethical shelves (very small compared to UK) to find some dark soft sugar. No currants only raisins/sultanas but there are lovely Agen prunes, figs and dates. The cream is different - nothing equivalent to double cream, whipping cream, single cream, I usually use thick crême fraîche when a recipe asks for double cream and buy the liquid version for pouring cream. Milk is usually UHT although some, but not all, supermarkets have a small supply of fresh milk. No lovely Bramley cooking apples or Jersey Royal potatoes! It's strange what you miss. The breakfast cereals are loaded with chocolate even healthy meusli! I could go on but will try to make the differences/substitutes I use clear in the recipes.
For most of the recipes that need oil I have usually specified Olive Oil, recently I have been made aware of the benefits of using a good, cold pressed, virgin rapeseed oil (huile de colza). This could be substituted for olive oil in any of the recipes and also in dressings. Buy the best local rapeseed oil you can, at the moment there is not much choice here. I would also recommend adjusting the quantities of oil if you are watching your weight, quite often a teaspoon is all you need, even if the recipe is asking for a tablespoon! Never just slosh it in!
A lot of my older recipes are in the old Imperial system, lbs and ounces, my current kitchen scales are only in grams so I have added some conversions but for a useful conversion tool try the BBCGoodFood Conversion page
Shopping! We have our fair share of supermarkets, all within 25minutes of here and then there are the local markets. My favourite is at Lavelanet, which is held every Friday morning. I think I have now sussed out the best providers of local paté and goats cheese, an amazing olive stall, fresh vegetables from Aude and local bread. There are always local farmers selling whatever fruit is in season. We buy what is in season and grown in France or Spain, as even the supermarkets import very little. Other small local markets have sprung up and we buy old varieties of tomatoes, onions, squash, local honey, cheese made from a mixture of goats and sheeps milk - the list goes on. More recently one of the farms in the village is now selling his locally produced yoghurt, brebis chees and meat.
Ingredients! You would think flour was flour but not here! They don't have the same Self Raising flour and it is much harder. There is no baking powder on the shelves although there is something which translates as a a "chemical raising agent" but I tend to bring a pot of baking powder back from the UK. The results for pastry and scones are just not the same here. I now use Rye flour and also Chestnut flour, good substitutes for ordinary flour and they give a nice nutty flavour to crumbles and pie bases. Sugar is comparable but you need to look on the ethical shelves (very small compared to UK) to find some dark soft sugar. No currants only raisins/sultanas but there are lovely Agen prunes, figs and dates. The cream is different - nothing equivalent to double cream, whipping cream, single cream, I usually use thick crême fraîche when a recipe asks for double cream and buy the liquid version for pouring cream. Milk is usually UHT although some, but not all, supermarkets have a small supply of fresh milk. No lovely Bramley cooking apples or Jersey Royal potatoes! It's strange what you miss. The breakfast cereals are loaded with chocolate even healthy meusli! I could go on but will try to make the differences/substitutes I use clear in the recipes.
For most of the recipes that need oil I have usually specified Olive Oil, recently I have been made aware of the benefits of using a good, cold pressed, virgin rapeseed oil (huile de colza). This could be substituted for olive oil in any of the recipes and also in dressings. Buy the best local rapeseed oil you can, at the moment there is not much choice here. I would also recommend adjusting the quantities of oil if you are watching your weight, quite often a teaspoon is all you need, even if the recipe is asking for a tablespoon! Never just slosh it in!
A lot of my older recipes are in the old Imperial system, lbs and ounces, my current kitchen scales are only in grams so I have added some conversions but for a useful conversion tool try the BBCGoodFood Conversion page